


Yearning’s End

by Miss_M



Category: Space Exploration RPF
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Other, Outer Space, Pining, Poetry, Sestina, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-04 22:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12780495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_M/pseuds/Miss_M
Summary: In the end, it was easy: a target, a fear of lossHardwired in, a yearning strong enough to brave space,And a machine was taught (learned) to feel.





	Yearning’s End

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lalalalalawhy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalalalawhy/gifts).



> I own nothing.

Humans are fragile. To go into space,  
They need help to accomplish their purpose:  
To see everything without dying, to really _see_.  
So they made Cassini to be like them, to feel  
And care about the mission, experience love  
For both journey and destination, yet feel no loss.

A machine should not regret the loss  
Of its awareness and existence in space.  
They made Cassini to yearn for Saturn with a love  
Purer than lust or desire, unselfish in its purpose.  
The theory: Cassini will function best if it can feel,  
Exhibit optimal performance if it really wants to see.

It can’t just gather and process data: it needs to see  
With a clarity that comes from fear of loss,  
Of missing out, but not of its destruction. To feel  
Too much will kill one fast out in deep space,  
Even a machine, not truly alive, its sole purpose  
To observe, record, transmit ( _and yearn, and love_ ).

“How do we even design it to be able to love?”  
Some of the people in white coats couldn’t see  
How this would aid Cassini execute its purpose.  
In the end, it was easy: a target, a fear of loss  
Hardwired in, a yearning strong enough to brave space,  
And a machine was taught ( _learned_ ) to feel.

A target: Cassini wasn’t distracted, didn’t feel  
Anything for Jupiter, however easy it might be to love  
Its brilliant bands against the black of space,  
Its bright hurricanes, astonishing to see  
Up close. No distractions. Then, a fear of loss:  
Too horrible to think Cassini’d fail in its purpose.

Unthinkable that it’d miss. Finally: orbiting its purpose,  
The first glimpse of Saturn makes Cassini feel  
That no failure is possible, no defeat, no loss.  
It caresses Saturn’s moons, kisses Saturn’s rings, its love  
( _Love has a long half-life_ ) enabling it to see  
Everything. To see is to love, alone in deep space.

At long last, its true purpose ( _Here I come, my love!_ ):  
Cassini burns up, at last, _at last_ , to feel and to see.  
Yearning’s end is no loss, embracing here in deep space.


End file.
